Tri-Grip
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Goretober day 10; Extra limbs. Acxa notices a pulsating lump between her shoulder blades.


Acxa has often heard the humans speak of the horrors of losing a limb. And she had no doubts that such a fate was truly horrific, indeed. But she finds that it is more horrifying to suddenly find oneself afflicted with one limb too many. Because that's not natural. Not even for her species...or any of the ones she is aware of.

To suddenly sprout a new appendage.

It is a fear that has newly awakened in her after noticing a small lump between her shoulder blades when she looked in the mirror.

She hadn't thought much of it at first. She was able to ignore the occasional pulsation, writing it off as an ordinary throbbing that came with a bruise-like injury. The denial fades quickly, as she inspects the thing in the mirror. It has increased in size, to the point where it obstructs a complete range of movements from the two arms she's always had.

Acxa bites her cheek. She doesn't fancy seeing human doctors, they aren't exactly familiar with how to treat Galra patients, but she supposes that it beats the alternative...whatever that is.

The throbbing intensifies, turning itself into something like a kick or a push. A tiny hand shoving beneath her skin. Her blood, her entier being runs cold. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to ignore it, but she fears that if any more pressure is applied, whatever it is will burst a hole through her back.

She tenses up at the prospect.

"Are you alright?" Keith asks, upon catching her in the hallway.

Acxa simply gives a wordless nod.

He cocks his head, "really? Because you've been reclusive even for you."

"I'm fine." She forces a smile and his skepticism only grows.

"You can tell me if something's wrong." He says, he puts his hand on her back and she flinches away. It doesn't hurt, but it seems right somehow to touch it as little as possible. Ketih knits his brows. "What…?"

Acxa looks around and bites her lip before lifting her shirt. "I don't know what it is, Keith."

Keith squints and brushes his fingers over the bump. It shifts and Acxa draws in a sharp breath. "It keeps getting bigger."

"When did you notice it?"

"A few days after we Olkarion ruins." She is almost certain that she knows how it happened. There had been a lot of quintessence lingering in the air and she would imagine that it might have altered something. Something deep within the double helix of her DNA.

She lets out a sharp shout as the thing beneath her skin pushes out much further. She can feel her skin stretch dangerously. A few pinpricks of blood appear around the edges of the lump. This is followed up by a series of slight undulations. "Get it out." She winces. "Get it out or I'll do it myself."

Keith flinches. "At least let me get you to the hospital wing first!"

But she doesn't have time to wait for a hospital trip. Her eyes go wide as a particularly hard push rips her skin. With one more, the thing has burst from her back. She screams as blood waterfalls from the break in her skin. She pitches forward, with Keith as the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor.

He lifts her up and, though he tries his best to cover it, she can see disgust on his face. She hopes it is simply because of the blood that is soaking into his jacket and seeping between his fingers. But a wriggling sensation radiating from between her shoulder blades says that it is not. "What's happening to me?" She asks desperately.

"I don't know." Keith confesses.

She grows dizzy and her vision starts to fuzz. When she comes to, she is lying on her stomach in an operating room. Keith is there, holding her hands, rubbing the backs of them with his thumbs.

There is another sensation, a foreign one. There is a dull ache between her shoulder blades, like a muscle cramp and she wonders if it is the pangs of having the lump amputated. She realizes, though, that the feeling extends passed a small lump, it is larger.

The feeling to follow isn't painful so much as it is disorienting and horribly uncomfortable.

Her stomach lolls and her whole body goes tense. There is a third person in the room with she and Keith; a doctor. She can feel his hand gripping something that shouldn't be there at all.

"Can you feel this?" He questions.

Acxa nods.

"Can you flex your fingers for me?" He asks.

She nods again and flexes them, first the right hand and then the left.

"No." The doctor says, "The other ones."

Her mouth goes dry and she realizes that she can. Her mind wills this new appendage to close its fist.

"Incredible." The doctor gasps.

"Horrifying." She mouths to Keith who nods in agreement. "Remove it." She requests flatly.

"Remove it? This is an occurrence that has never happened before, we should study it, run some tests…"

"Remove it." Acxa cuts in. "It shouldn't exist at all."

The doctor looks at her for some time before replying. "I've got an appointment with a mother-to-be. After I see her tomorrow, I'll see what we can do about your arm."

Acxa doesn't know if she likes that answer very much, but it was better than his first response.

"At least this is an easy fix...sort of." Keith puts in.

She doesn't know if she agrees with this either. She lets him lead her down the hallway and tries her hardest to ignore the many sets of eyes that seem to glue themselves to her. It is bad enough being one of the only Galras on the ship, throw in an extra limb and she is quite the spectacle. Keith's hand on her lower back keeps her moving.

Once in her room she flops herself on her bed and nestles her head in the crook of her arm. The mattress dips as Keith sits down. "You want me to stay with you tonight?"

"Please." She replies.

"I'll get my pillows."

In his absence she has time to dwell and dread. At first it is wholly due to the extra arm sprouting from her back. It takes her a moment to realize why her fear has branched out. She scrambles up and moves to the mirror. She lifts her shirt.

On her belly is a fist sized bump.


End file.
